Sunday Serenity: Kickapoo State Park, Illinois

My friend Janet took these beautiful pictures last month while visiting, “Kickapoo State Park.” The park is located approximately two and a half hours south of Chicago in Oakwood, Illinois.

Janet graciously allowed me to share these photos with you. She also provided me with a quote from the author Rudyard Kipling. Kipling loved the outdoors, and especially Autumn when the leaves begin to turn color.

“A little maple began it, flaming blood-red of a sudden where he stood against the dark green of a pine-belt. Next morning there was an answering signal from the swamp where the sumacs grow. Three days later, the hill-sides as fast as the eye could range were afire, and the roads paved, with crimson and gold. Then a wet wind blew, and ruined all the uniforms of that gorgeous army; and the oaks, who had held themselves in reserve, buckled on their dull and bronzed cuirasses stood it out stiffly to the last blown leaf, till nothing remained but pencil-shadings of bare boughs, and one could see into the most private heart of the woods.

–Rudyard Kipling

Thank you, Janet!

I hope you are having a serene Sunday!